Poetry, Myth and the Everyday: An Interview with E. B. Clarke

In Enfoldment, gods share the page with gardens and an empty parcel sets a story in motion. E. B. Clarke brings together poems and short fiction shaped by myth, spiritual inquiry and an eye for the absurd.

We spoke with Clarke about his first poems in Brooklyn, the turn to short fiction after retirement and the stories behind “Package Content” and “Past Tense”. He also tells us why he opened the collection with “Central Casting” and what Lord Dunsany taught him about the short story.

You started writing poetry as a child in Brooklyn. What do you remember about those first poems?

I remember that my interest in writing poetry and journaling started about the same time, age 13 or so. I was very much an avid reader as well at that age. My first poems addressed early themes of life transitions: moving, loss of pets, and the process of growing up. I had a healthy dose of (what the Headmaster of my school once wrote on my report card) “adolescent insouciance”. I actually had to look that word up in a French – English dictionary but I never forgot it!

You’ve described turning to short fiction after retirement. What did stories give you room to do that poetry hadn’t?

I have loved the opportunity to explore expression in short fiction. Here I encounter places and characters that speak to me and share their stories in ways I have not been able to do in poetry. I particularly like the opportunity for research: historical and mythological. Story telling is embedded in the DNA of who we are. I also feel short fiction has a rhythm and resonance that is uniquely their own.

Enfoldment is dedicated to Raeah. Would you tell us a little about her place in the making of this book?

Our journey together began with the sharing of writing and a deep spiritual connection many years ago. It continues on to this day. She listens, encourages and is that second set of ears every aspiring writer needs. Raeah has been a trusted sounding board for honest and intimate feedback. She is my “alchemate”

There’s room in these pages for gods and spiritual questions, but also food, gardens and ordinary pleasures. What tends to get you writing—a question you can’t leave alone, or something you’ve noticed during the day?

I really try to maintain a healthy sense of humour, curiosity and openness to new ways of perceiving the interconnected world around me. The exploration of this interconnectedness of spirit and what we think of as our daily routine is fascinating to me.

Some of what I share in Enfoldment is a result of my daily writing practice of keyboard composition. Sometimes a poem may just flow up like a hidden spring from an unseen world.

How did “Sometimes Doctor” begin? Was the patient there first, or the doctor?

Great question! The answer is both, I think. In other words, patients and doctors are two sides of the same coin. When writing this, I remember thinking of the ancient proverb: “physician, heal thy self”.

“Sometimes Doctor” was also a bit of a cathartic exercise in the context of finding holistic health care in this crazy country I live in.

We chose “Package Content” as an excerpt for the Star Lore blog. Do you remember how an empty box became the starting point for a story?

It was something very spontaneous – a writing that just showed up. It was a wild and wonderful ride with many twists and turns I was not expecting. I remember wrestling with the narrative direction of the story line at a few junctures, but the story insisted on going its own way and writing itself if you will.

“Past Tense” begins, “Some friends are dead…” Can you tell us how that poem came about?

“Sometimes the faces of the Past walk with me”.

This line came to me during a moment of grief and remembrance for a lifelong friend who passed a few years ago. I remembered that many of our best conversations occurred while walking and that our conversations still seem to have a gait of their own – even now when given room to move and speak.

The rest of the poem flowed from there…

Humour runs through the book, even when the subject is serious. Have you ever found yourself writing something funny and only later realised what was underneath it?

George Bernard Shaw and Muhammad Ali are both reputed to have said: “My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world”.

The answer to your question is Yes. Absolutely. Absurdity and humour is what catches my eye and invites a deeper look for any sense of meaning. As the Master Nonnina Chefs of Anonymous like to say: “Humour is our most powerful secret weapon. We safeguard and use it every chance we get “. Myself, I could not say it any better.

Your interests include mythology, religion and alchemy. Is there a story or idea from those studies that has stayed with you for years and keeps finding its way into your writing?

For reasons only my hairdresser and therapist may fully understand, I have long been fascinated by the corpus of myth and academic writings that surround the ancient rising of Sirius, and its place of importance in Egyptian mythology. I speak to that fascination particularly in Dog Days .

What was it like deciding the order of the poems and stories? Was there one piece you knew had to come first—or last?

It was certainly a process. It helped me to group the poems by sections first. Each section is its own collection in a sense. From there, the internal ordering of each section became more apparent to me.

I felt that it was important to begin with the poem: “Central Casting “. I feel we live in a world at a crossroads once again and we must all act and function to our greatest ability. The poem is in a way a “call to Truth”.

The book includes “Seem#Stress and the Knot of Eternity” as a work in progress. What made you want to share it at this stage?

I am both excited and focused presently upon this project. Characters, narrative and the story flow continue to reveal themselves as I go. I’m personally very impressed with who I’ve encountered so far and so wanted to share some of this.

I have come to consider the knot of Eternity as the knot of Compassion it also is. It seems badly damaged these days and in need of repair. Seem #Stress has made it clear to me that she is just the one for the job.

Is there a piece in Enfoldment that means more to you than a reader might guess? Tell us about it.

Since I first discovered his work in my teenage years, Lord Dunsany continues to be an enduring influence for me. His work is timeless in a way and as magickal and as relevant today as when his stories were first published. His stories have taught me what is possible to achieve in a short fiction format

In writing The Hashish Reader, I was able to explore his life in a manner I have not been able to do before.

Read an excerpt from “Package Content” · About E. B. Clarke · Explore Enfoldment